This GIF shows the camera really does add 10 pounds — here’s why

It’s a comforting thought: The camera adds 10 pounds. After all,
it means that the "you" that you see in photographs is not
actually your best self. In real life, you’re better: You're more
attractive and slimmer.

And it turns out that this age-old line isn’t just a tale that we
spin to make ourselves feel better about bad group photos. The
camera really does add 10 pounds. Or some cameras do at
least.

According to Gizmodo, the
focal length of a camera can flatten out your features, which
can make you look a little bit bigger. Then, of course, there’s
barrel distortion, which is when a camera lens can cause straight
lines to appear curved. This has the effect of plumping you up,
making you look, well, kind of fatter.

But it’s not just a one-way street. These same effects can
actually cause other lenses to make you appear thinner!

To highlight the incredible way that focal length can affect the
shape of the face, photographer Dan Vojtech stitched together a
series of nine portraits that he took at 20 mm, 24 mm, 28
mm, 35 mm, 50 mm, 70 mm, 105 mm, 150 mm, and 200 mm.

Wide-angle lenses, as their name implies, have a super-wide field
of view, which can create something called a fish-eye effect —
your face will appear bloated in the middle and stretched on the
outside. The wide field of view can also cause objects
closer to the camera to appear larger, while making objects
further away seem smaller.